Wilhelm Scream
The Wilhelm scream is a film and television stock sound effect that has been used in more than 200 movies, beginning in 1951 for the film Distant Drums.[1] The scream is often used when someone is shot, falls from a great height, or is thrown from an explosion. Voiced by actor and singer Sheb Wooley, the sound is named after Private Wilhelm, a character in The Charge at Feather River, a 1953 western in which the character is shot with an arrow. This was believed to be the third movie to use the sound effect and its first use from the Warner Bros. stock sound library.[2] The effect gained new popularity (its use often becoming an in-joke) after it was used in Star Wars, the Indiana Jones series, Disney cartoons and many other blockbuster films as well as television programs and video games.[3] History The Wilhelm scream originates from a series of sound effects recorded for the 1951 movie Distant Drums. In a scene from the film, soldiers are wading through a swamp in the Everglades, and one of them is bitten and dragged underwater by an alligator. The scream for that scene was recorded later in a single take, along with five other short pained screams, which were slated as "man getting bit by an alligator, and he screamed." The fifth scream was used for the soldier in the alligator scene—but the 4th, 5th, and 6th screams recorded in the session were also used earlier in the film—when three Indians are shot during a raid on a fort. Although takes 4, 5, and 6 are the most recognizable, all of the screams are referred to as "Wilhelm", by those in the sound community. Revival The Wilhelm scream's revival came from motion picture sound designer Ben Burtt, who discovered the original recording (which he found as a studio reel labeled "Man being eaten by alligator") and incorporated it into a scene in Star Wars. Burtt is credited with naming the scream after Private Wilhelm (see The Charge at Feather River).[4] Over the next decade, Burtt began incorporating the effect in other films he worked on, including most projects involving George Lucas or Steven Spielberg. (It is used in all of the Star Wars and Indiana Jones movies.) Other sound designers picked up on the effect, and inclusion of the sound in films became a tradition among the community of sound designers.[3] It was also used in the 2012 film the Hunger Games. Research by Burtt suggests that Sheb Wooley, best known for his novelty song "The Purple People Eater" in 1958 and as scout Pete Nolan on the television series Rawhide, is likely to have been the voice actor who originally performed the scream. This has been supported by an interview in 2005 with Linda Dotson, Wooley's widow. Burtt discovered records at Warner Brothers from the editor of Distant Drums including a short list of names of actors scheduled to record lines of dialogue for miscellaneous roles in the movie. Wooley played the uncredited role of Private Jessup in Distant Drums, and was one of the few actors assembled for the recording of additional vocal elements for the film. Wooley performed additional vocal elements, including the screams for a man being bitten by an alligator.[5] Dotson confirmed that it was Wooley's scream that had been in so many westerns, adding, "He always used to joke about how he was so great about screaming and dying in films."[2] List of Media Using the Wilhelm Scream MOVIES: 1950s: *''Distant Drums'' (1951) *''The Charge at Feather River'' (1953) *''Them!'' (1954) *''A Star is Born'' (1954) *''Helen of Troy'' (1956) 1960s: *''The Wild Bunch (1969) 1970s: *''Star Wars: Episode IV, A New Hope (1977) *''The Star Wars Holiday Special'' (1978) *''More American Graffiti'' (1979) 1980s: *''Star Wars: Episode V, The Empire Strikes Back'' (1980) *''Raiders of the Lost Ark'' (1981) *''History of the World, Part I'' (1982) *''Star Wars: Episode VI, Return of the Jedi (1983) *''Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984) *''Spaceballs'' (1987) *''Willow'' (1988) *''Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989) 1990s: *''Gremlins 2: The New Batch (1990) *''Beauty and the Beast'' (1991) **Heard during the fight between the villagers and the household objects. *''Batman Returns (1992) *''Reservoir Dogs (1992) *''Aladdin'' (1992) **Villagers flee in terror as the Genie (now under Jafar's control) lifts the palace into the air. *''A Goofy Movie (1995) **During the "On the Open Road" song, Goofy unknowingly plows through a construction scaffold. **During the Powerline concert when the floor director is thrown into the giant viewscreen while chasing after Max. *''Toy Story (1995) **Buzz Lightyear screams when he is knocked out of the bedroom window. *''Die Hard: With a Vengeance'' (1995) *''Dante's Peak'' (1996) *''The Fifth Element'' (1997) *''Hercules'' (1997) **Villages flee in terror when the Cyclops attacks the city looking for the now-powerless Hercules. *''Lethal Weapon 4'' (1997) *''Small Soldiers (1998) *''Star Wars: Episode I, The Phantom Menace (1999) 2000s: *''The Kid (2000)'' *''The Little Mermaid 2: Return to the Sea'' (2000) **Claok (or Dagger) screams right before Morgana falls onto them after her plan to first kidnap Melody is thwarted by Ariel. **A crew member screams when Eric and everyone onboard a ship jumps off before a giant iceberg falls onto it. *''Tomcats'' (2001) *''Just Visiting'' (2001) **A viking is hit in the face with an ax. *''Planet of the Apes'' (2001) *''Wet Hot American Summer (2001) *''Osmosis Jones (2001) **Thrax throws someone out of their car. *''The Majestic'' (2001) *''Life or Something Like It (2002) *''The Salton Sea (2002) *''Star Wars: Episode II, Attack of the Clones'' (2002) *''Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers'' (2002) *''Cradle 2 the Grave'' (2003) *''Tears of the Sun'' (2003) *''Agent Cody Banks'' (2003) *''A Man Apart'' (2003) *''Once Upon a Time in Mexico'' (2003) *''Kill Bill, Vol. 1'' (2003) *''Looney Tunes: Back in Action'' (2003) **Damian Drake tosses a hand grenade while talking to DJ and Daffy Duck from a painting in his house. *''Peter Pan'' (2003) *''Lord of the Rings: Return of the King'' (2003) *''Win a Date with Tad Hamilton'' (2004) *''Hellboy'' (2004) *''Troy'' (2004) *''Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle'' (2004) **While riding a cheetah, Harold is knocked off by a tree branch. *''Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgandy'' (2004) **During the fight scene, a man is thrown into a car windshield. pitched *''Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow'' (2004) *''Team America: World Police'' (2004) *''Taxi'' (2005) *''The Pacifier'' (2005) *''The Ring 2'' (2005) *''Sin City'' (2005) *''Monster-in-Law'' (2005) *''Star Wars: Episode III, Revenge of the Sith'' (2005) *''Madagascar'' (2005) **Heard when everyone in Grand Central Station is fleeing from Alex, thinking he is chasing them. *''Fantastic Four'' (2005) *''Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit'' (2005) **After the Were-Rabbit picks up Lady Tottingham, he steps on a civilian. *''Get Rich or Die Tryin' (2005) **A man is shot in a recording booth. *''Aeon Flux (2005) *''King Kong'' (2005) **A man is knocked off a cliff during a dinosaur stampede. *''16 Blocks (2006) **During the bus hijacking scene. *''She's the Man (2006) *''Cars'' (2006) **During Lightning McQueen's Dinoco fantasy, a car is disintegrated during a movie scene. *''Monster House'' (2006) *''Accepted'' (2006) *''Norbit (2007) *''Are We Done Yet? (2007) *''The Invisible'' (2007) *''Shrek the Third'' (2007) **A bar fight breaks out in the Poison Apple. **When the villains invade the castle, the Dragon throws a witch into some people. *''Transformers'' (2007) **After Frenzy's head is cut off by Mikaela, Sam kicks it away. Frenzy screams as he flies off into the distance. *''License to Wed'' (2007) *''Juno'' (2007) *''30 Days of Night'' (2007) *''Resident Evil: Extinction'' (2007) *''Enchanted'' (2007) **Heard when Queen Narissa turns into a dragon. *''The Mist'' (2007) *''Water Horse: Legend of the Deep'' (2007) *''Meet the Spartans'' (2008) *''Over Her Dead Body'' (2008) *''Speed Racer'' (2008) *''Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008) **A student screams when Indiana Jones and Mutt drive a motorcycle through a library. *''Kung Fu Panda (2008) *''Tropic Thunder'' (2008) *''Star Wars: The Clone Wars'' (2008) *''Bolt'' (2008) **Heard when Rhino is changing channels on TV shortly before meeting Bolt. *''The Day the Earth Stood Still'' (2008) *''Underworld: Rise of the Lycans'' (2009) *''Knowing'' (2009) *''Monsters vs. Aliens'' (2009) *''Up'' (2009) **Heard when the dogs fall into the river while chasing after Carl and the others. *''Inglorious Basterds'' (2009) *''Astro Boy'' (2009) *''Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs'' (2009) **Heard when Sardineland is being destroyed by a giant fishbowl *''The Twilight Saga: New Moon'' (2009) **Bella, Jacob, and Mike see a movie. 2010s: *''The Spy Next Door'' (2010) *''Diary of a Wimpy Kid'' (2010) *''Toy Story 3'' (2010) **Andy and the toys watch a scary movie in the opening montage. *''Despicable Me'' (2010) **Gru's mother sends a karate instructor flying. *''Machete'' (2010) **A man is crushed by a "low-rider" style truck. *''Due Date'' (2010) **A construction worker leaps out of the way when the Subaru drives off a bridge. *''Tron: Legacy (2010) **A digitized version of the scream can be heard when Sam Flynn kills a guard before entering the cockpit towards the end of the film. *''Yogi Bear (2010) **A pinecone falls out of a tree and hits Yogi in the eye. *''Paul'' (2011) **Heard when Bill Hader's character drives his car off a cliff while chasing Paul and the others. *''Mr. Popper's Penguins'' (2011) **A man nearly falls off a ledge when the penguins wreck havoc at a party. *''Cars 2'' (2011) **A bar fight breaks out in London. *''Captain America: The First Avenger'' (2011) **A Hydra soldier is thrown off of his motorcycle after being tripped up by a wire. *''The Smurfs'' (2011) **A Smurf screams when all the Smurfs are being thrown around by Gargamel's magic. *''Rise of the Planet of the Apes'' (2011) **During the ape battle when a helicopter crashes into a police car. *''21 Jump Street'' (2012) **During the car chase, a thug is run over by a truck. **During the car chase, a thug falls off his motorcycle shortly before the chicken truck explosion. **During an end credits scene. *''Rock of Ages'' (2012) **A man is thrown off a stage and onto the floor. *''Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days'' (2012) *''Premium Rush'' (2012) **A man is run over by a vehicle during a fantasy. *''Alex Cross'' (2012) *''The Man with the Iron Fists (2012) **A man is thrown off a balcony. *''The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012) **A troll is knocked off a pathway when Gandalf and the dwarves are fighting their way out of the Goblin Kingdom. *''Django Unchained'' (2012) TV SHOWS: *''The Simpsons'' **"Million Dollar Maybe" ***Mr. Burns plays a WWII game on the Funtendo Zii. A Nazi screams whenever they are shot. **"Treehouse of Horror XXI" *''Family Guy'' **"North by North Quahog" **"Perfect Castaway" **"No Chris Left Behind" ***During the chicken fight when a pilot is ejected out of his plane by Peter and the chicken. **"Blue Harvest" **"Long John Peter" **"420" **"Something, Something, Something, Dark Side" **"It's a Trap!" **"Amish Guy" ***Peter causes a wreck on a roller coaster. **"Internal Affairs" ***During the chicken fight when Peter and the chicken knock a man off a station wagon. *''American Dad!'' **"Pilot" ***Stan runs up an escalator at the mall, pushing people out of his way. **"Roger Codger" ***Duper tosses a hand grenade. ("What? We're doing ad-libs now?") **"Helping Handis" **"Meter Made" ***During the raid at the end of the episode. **"The Most Adequate Christmas Ever!" *''Futurama'' **"Fun on a Bun" ***Heard when the drones crash. *''Drawn Together'' **"Dirty Pranking No. 2" ***When Captain Hero and Xandir are at the zoo, a man gets zapped in the background. **"The Lemon AIDS Walk" ***Captain Hero takes steroids Reversed **"A Very Special Drawn Together Afterschool Special" ***A bar fight breaks out **"The Drawn Together Clip Show" ***The Jew Producer opens fire on the audience to stop their applause. ("I SAID SHUT THE F--K UP!!") **"Spelling Applebee's" ***Captain Hero causes a boat wreck in Italy *The Venture Bros. *''1000 Ways to Die'' **"Cure for the Common Death I" ***Heard in two segments: ****"Red, White, and Blew" - when a firework explodes in a man's face. ****"Guitar Zeroes" - when a man falls out a window to his death. *''The Life and Times of Juniper Lee'' *''Regular Show'' **"Exit 9B" *''The Looney Tunes Show'' **"Eligible Bachelors" *''My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic'' *''Adventure Time with Finn and Jake'' *''Robot Chicken'' *''Game of Thrones'' *''Back at the Barnyard'' **"Otis for Mayor" ***Bigfoot flips out at a press conference and throws a guy.